Book
Description
1919. The premise of this book begins with the simple fact that life is
and life is conscious. The text falls into two parts, instruction and
practice. Partial Contents: An Inquiry into Truth; What Life Is; The
Beginning of Understanding; Unconscious Creation; How to Attain
Strength; What We will Attract; The Control of Thought; The Power of
Words; Demonstrating Success in Business; and Transcending Previous
Conditions.
Originally published in the first half of the twentieth century, these
meditative, concise volumes have never previously appeared in
paperback or ebook form. Whether a newcomer to the philosophy Holmes
founded or a
veteran reader, you will find great power and practicality in the words
that render Holmes one of the most celebrated and beloved mystical
teachers of the past hundred years.
PART ONE - INSTRUCTION
AN INQUIRY
INTO
THE
TRUTH
AN
inquiry into Truth is an inquiry into the cause of things as the human
race sees and experiences them. The starting point of our thought must
always being with our experiences. We all know that life is,
else we could not even think that we are. since we can think,
say and feel, we must be. We live, we are conscious of life; therefore
we must be and life must be. If we are life and consciousness
(self-knowing) then it follows that we must have come from life and
consciousness. Let us start, then, with this simple fact: Life is
and life is conscious.
But what is the nature of
this
life;
is it physical, mental, material or spiritual? A little careful
thinking based upon logic, more than any merely personal opinion, will
do much in clearing up some of these questions that at first seem to
stagger us with their bigness.
How much of that which is
may
we
call life? The answer would have to be: Life is all that
there is; it is the reason for all that we see, hear, feel -- for all
that we experience in any way. Now nothing from nothing leaves nothing,
and it is impossible for something to proceed from nothing. Since
something is, that from which it came must be all that is. Life,
then, is all that there is. Everything comes from it, ourselves
included
The next questions is,
how do
things
come from life? How do the things that we see come from the things that
we do not see? The things that we see must be real because we see them.
To say they are not real will never explain them nor answer any
question about them. God's work is not a world of illusion but one of
divine realities. The truth must not explain away things that we see.
It must explain what they are. We are living and experiencing varying
degrees of consciousness and conditions. Only when the why of living
and of our experiences is understood will we know the least thing about
the truth. Jesus did not say that things are illusions. He said that we
must not judge from the standpoint of the seen but must judge
righteously or with right judgment; and He meant that we must get
behind the appearances and find out what caused it. So let us not in
any way fool ourselves nor allow ourselves to believe we have always
been fooled. We are living in a world of realities. Whatever we have
experienced is a reality as far as that experience is concerned,
although if we had had a higher understanding of life, the unpleasant
experience might have been avoided.
WHAT LIFE IS
IN the first place, what do we
mean
by
life? We mean that which we see, feel, hear, touch or taste, and the
reason for it. We must have come into contact all we know of life. We
have already found what life is or we could not have had any of these
experiences. "In the beginning was God" or life. Out of this life which
is, everything which is is made. So life must flow through all things.
There is no such thing as dead matter. Moreover, life is one, and it
cannot be changed except into itself. All forms are forms of this unity
and must come and go through some inner activity. This inner activity
of life or nature must be some some form of self-consciousness or self-
knowing. In our human understanding we would call this inner knowing,
or consciousness "thought." The Spirit or Life, or God, must make
things out of Himself, through self-recognition, or self-knowing or, as
we would call it thinking. Since God is all, there is
nothing to hinder Him from doing what He wishes, and the question, "How
do things come into being?" is answered: God makes them out of Himself.
God thinks, or knows, and that thing which He thinks or knows appears
from Himself, and is made out of Himself. There is no other possible
explanation for what we see. Unless people are willing to begin here,
they will never understand how it is that things are not material but
spiritual.
MAN'S PLACE IN CREATION.
BUT where does man come
in? He is. Therefore it follows that he. too, is made out of
God, since
God,
or Spirit, is all. Being made out of God, he must partake of His
nature, for we are "made in His image."
Man is the center of God
in
God.
Whatever God is in the Universal, man must be in the individual world.
The difference between God and man is one of degree and not of quality.
Man is not self-made; he is made out of God.
The question might arise, why did God do this? No living
person can
answer this question. This is something that is known only of the
Father. We might suppose that God made man to live with Him and to
enjoy with Him, to be one with the Father. It is true, indeed, that
those who have felt this most deeply have had a corresponding spiritual
power that leads us to suppose that God really did make man as a
companion. Man is the individual and God is the Universal. "As the
Father hath life within himself." Man's mind is made out of God's mind,
and all that man is or ever will be, all that he has or ever will have,
must partake of the Divine nature. Man did not make it so, but it is
so, and he must accept that face and see what he can do with it. If he
has the same power in his individual life that God has in the
Universal, then this discovery will mean freedom from all bondage when
he learns how to use his power. As God governs His Universal world so
will man govern his individual world, always subject to the greater law
and life. This could not be otherwise if we realize what follows from
it, for so realizing we find ourselves living in a very different world
from the one in which we thought we were living. God governs not
through physical law as result, but first by inner knowing -- then the
physical follows. In the same way, man governs his world by the process
which we will call, for want of a better name, the power of his
thought. Man's inner life is one with the Father. There can be no
separation, for the self-evident reason that there is nothing to
separate him from God, because there is nothing but life. The
separation of two things implies putting a different element between
them; but as there is nothing different from God. the unity of God and
man is firmly established forever. "My father and I are One" is a
simple statement of a great soul who perceived life as it really is and
not from the mere standpoint of outer conditions.
Taking as the starting
point
that
man has the same life as God, it follows that he used the same creative
process. Everything is one, comes from the same source and returns
again to it. "The things which are seen are not made of the things
which do appear." What we see comes from what we do not see. This is
the explanation of the whole visible universe, and is the only possible
explanation.
As God's thought makes
worlds
and
peoples them with all living things, so does our thought make our world
and peoples it with all the experiences we have had. By the activity of
our thought things come into our life, and we are limited because we
have not known the truth; we have thought that outside things
controlled us, when all the time we have had that within which could
have changed everything and given us freedom from bondage.
The question, then,
naturally
arises: Why did God create man and make him a free agent? If
God had created us in such a way as to compel us to do or to be
anything that was not of our choosing, we should not not have been
individuals at all, we should be automatons. Since we know that we are
individuals, we know that God made us thus; and we are just discovering
the reason why. Let any man wake up to this, the greatest truth in all
ages, and he will find it will answer all questions. He will be
satisfied that things are what they are. He will perceive that he may
use his God-given power to work so to work, to think and to live that
he will in now way hinder the greater from operating through
him. According to the clearness of his perception and greatness of his
realization of this power will he provide within himself. There will no
longer be a sense of separation, but in its place will come that divine
assurance that he is one with God, and thus will he find his freedom
from all suffering, whether it be of body, mind or estate.
THE BEGINNING OF
UNDERSTANDING
MAN is beginning to
realize
that he
has life within himself as the great gift of God to him. If he really
has life , if it is the same nature as the life of God, if he is an
individual and has the right of self-choice which constitutes
individuality; then it follows that he can do with his life what he
wants to do: he can make out of himself that which he wishes. Freedom
is his, but this freedom is with law and never outside it. Man must
obey law. If he disobeys it, it has to act as law, and so acting has to
punish him. This he cannot change but must submit to. Freedom comes to
the individual from understanding the laws of his
own life, and conforming to them, thereby subjecting them to his use,
to the end of health, happiness and success.
Law obtains throughout all nature,
governing all
things, both the seen and the unseen. Law is not physical or material
but mental and spiritual. Law is God's method of operation. We should
think of God as the great Spirit whose sole impulse is love,
freely giving of Him-self to all who ask and refusing none. God is our
Father in every sense of the term, watching over, caring for and loving
all alike. While all is love, yet, in order that things may not be
chaotic, all is governed by law. And as far as you and I are concerned,
this law is always mental.
OUR CONDITIONS GOVERNED BY
OUR
THINKING
IT
is
easy for the average person to see how it is that mind can control, and
to a certain extent govern, the functions of the body. Some can go even
further than this and see that the body is governed entirely by
consciousness. This they can see without much difficulty, but it is not
so easy for them to see how it is that thought governs their conditions
and decides whether they are to be successes or failures.
Here we will stop to ask
the
question: If our conditions are not controlled by thought, by what,
then, are they controlled? Some will say that conditions are controlled
by circumstances. But what are circumstances? Are they cause or are
they effect? Of course they are always effect; everything that we see
is an effect. An effect is something that follows cause, and we are
dealing with causation only; effects do not make themselves, but they
are held in place by mind, not by causation.
If this does not answer your thought, begin over again and
realize that
behind everything that is seen is the silent cause. In your life you
are that cause. There is nothing but mind, and nothing moves
except as mind moves it. We have agreed that while God is love, yet
your life is governed absolutely by mind, or law. In our lives of
conditions we are the cause, and nothing moves except as our mind moves
it.
The
activity
of our mind is thought. We are always acting because we are always
thinking. At all times we are either drawing things to us or we
are pushing them away from us. In the ordinary individual this process
goes on without his ever knowing it consciously, but ignorance of the
law will excuse no one from its effects.
"What," someone will say,
"do
you
think that I thought failure or wanted to fail?" Of course not. You
would be foolish to think that; but according to the law which we
cannot deny, you must have thought that failure might come, or in some
way you gave gave it entrance to your mind.
Thinking back over the
reason
for
things, you will find that you are surrounded by a mind, or law, that
casts back at the thinker, manifested, everything he thinks. If this
were not true, man would not be an individual. Individuality can mean
only the ability to think what we want to think. If that
thought is to have power in our lives then there has to be something
that will manifest it. Some are limited and bound by law through
ignorance. This law is sometimes called "Karma," it is the law that
binds the ignorant and gives freedom to the wise.
We live in mind; and it can return to us only what we think
into it. No
matter what we may do, law will always obtain. If we are thinking of
ourselves as poor and needy, then mind has not choice but to return
what we have thought into it. At first this may be hard to realize, but
the truth will reveal to the seeker that law could act in no other way.
Whatever we think is the pattern, and mind is the builder. Jesus,
realizing this law, said, "It is done unto you even as you have
believed." Shall we doubt but that this great Way Shower knew what he
was talking about? Did He not say, "It is done unto you." Nothing to
worry about. "It is done unto you." With a tremendous grasp of true
spiritual thought, Jesus even called forth bread from the ethers of
life, and at no time did he He ever fail to demonstrate that when one
knows the truth he is freed by that knowledge.
UNCONSCIOUS CREATION
THE
author once attended a patient who was suffering from a large growth.
She was operated on and about fifty pounds of water were removed. In a
few days the growth had returned. Where did it come from? Not from
eating or drinking. Neither did it move from one part of the body to
another part, as that would not have increased her weight. It must have
been created from elements which she took in from the air. It had to
come from something not physically seen, something appearing from
nothing that we see. What we call "creation" is the same thing -- the
visible appearing from the invisible. Was not this phenomenon a
creation?
Cases as remarkable as this are occurring every day. We
should not deny
this fact but try to explain it. In the case of this woman there must
have been an activity of thought molded into form, else how could this
growth have appeared? There is nothing manifest but that there is a
cause for the manifestation. Investigation proves that behind every
condition, whether of body or environment, there has been some thought,
conscious or unconscious, which produced that condition. In the case of
this woman the thought was not conscious. But creation is going on all
the time; we should realize this and learn how to control it so that
there may be created for us the things that we desire and not those
that we do not want. Is it any wonder that the Bible says, "With all
thy getting get understanding"?
Jesus understood all
this, and
so it
was no more effort for Him to do what He did than it is for us to
breathe or to digest our food. He understood, that is all.
Because Jesus did understand and did use these great laws with
objective consciousness, people thought He must be God. And when to-day
something unusual occurs, people think that a miracle has been
performed. Jesus was not God. He was a manifestation of God; and so are
all people. "I say ye are gods, and every one of you sons of the Most
High."
A thinking person will be
compelled
to admit, in view of all this, that creation is first spiritual,
through mental law, and then physical in manifestation.
Man does not really create. He uses creative power that
already is.
Relatively speaking, he is the creative power in his own life; and so
far as his thought goes, there is something that goes with it that has
the power to bring forth into manifestation that thing thought of.
Hitherto men have used this creative power in ignorance and so have
brought upon themselves all kinds of conditions, but today hundreds of thousands are beginning to use these
great laws of their being in a conscious, constructive way. Herein lies
the great secret of the New Thought movements under their various names
and cults and orders. All are using the same law even though some deny
to the others real revelation. We should get into an attitude of mind
wherein we should recognize the truth wherever we may find it. The
trouble with most of us is that unless we see sugar in a sugar bowl we
think it must be something else, and so we stick to our petty
prejudices instead of looking after principles.
FIRST STEPS
THE
first thing to realize is that since any thought manifests it
necessarily follows that all thought does the same, else how should we
know that the particular thought we are thinking would be the one that
would create? Mind must not cast back all or none. Just as the creative
power of the soil receives all seeds put into it, and at once begins to
work upon them, so mind must receive all thought and at once begin to
operate upon it. Thus we find that all thought has some power in our
lives and over our conditions. We are making our environments by the
creative power of our thought. God has created us thus and we cannot
escape it. By con- forming our lives and thought to a greater
understanding of law we shall be able to bring into our experience just
what we wish, letting go of all that we do not want to experience and
taking in the things we desire. Every person is surrounded by a thought
atmosphere
This mental atmosphere is the direct result of thought which
in its
turn becomes the direct reason for the cause of that which comes into
our lives. Through this power we are either attracting or repelling.
Like attract like and we attract to us just what we are in mind. It is
also true that we become attracted to something that is greater than
our previous experience by first embodying the atmosphere of our desire.
Every business, every
place,
every
person, everything has a certain mental atmosphere of its own. This
atmosphere decides what is to be drawn to it. For instance, you never
saw a successful man who went around with an atmosphere of failure.
Successful people think about success. A successful man is filled with
that subtle something which permeates everything that he does with an
atmosphere of confidence and strength. In the presence of some people
we feel as though nothing were too great to undertake; we are uplifted;
we are inspired to do great things, to accomplish; we feel strong,
steady, sure. What a power we feel in the presence of big souls, strong
men, noble women!
Did you ever stop to
inquire
why it
is that such persons have this kind of effect over you while others
seem to depress, to drag you down, and in their presence you feel as
though life were a load to carry? One type is positive, the other
negative. In every physical respect they are just alike, but one has a
mental and spiritual power which the other does not have, and without
that power the individual can hope to do but little.
Which of these two do we like the better? With which do we
want to
associate? Certainly not the one that depresses us; we have enough of
that already. But what about the man who inspires us with our own
worth? Ah, he is the man we will turn to every time. Before ever we
reach him, in our haste to be near, even to hear his voice, do we not
feel a strength coming to meet us? Do you think that this man who has
such a wonderful power of attraction will ever want for friends? Will
he ever have to look up a position? Already so many positions are open
to him that he is weighing in his mind which one to take. He does not
have to become a success; he already is a success.
Thoughts of failure,
limitation or
poverty are negative and must be counted out of our lives for all time.
Somebody will say, "But what of the poor; what are you going to do with
them; are they to be left without help?" No; a thousand times no. The
same power is in them that is in all men. They will always be poor
until they awake and realize what life is. All the charity on earth has
never done away with poverty, and never will; if it could have done so
it would have done so; it could not, therefore it has not. It will do a
man a thousand times more good to show him how to succeed than it will
to tell him he needs charity. We need not listen to all the calamity
howlers. Let them howl if it does them any good. God has given us a
power and we must use it. We can do more toward saving the world by
proving this law than all that charity has ever given it.
Right here, in the manifold world to-day, there is more
money and
provision than the world can use. Not even a fraction of the wealth of
the world is used. Inventors and discoverers are adding to this wealth
every day; they are the real people. But in the midst of plenty,
surrounded by all the gifts of heaven, man sits and begs for his daily
bread. He should be taught to realize that he has brought these
conditions upon himself; that instead of blaming God, man or the devil
for the circumstances by which he is surrounded, he should learn to
seek the truth, to let the dead bury their dead. We should tell every
man who will believe what his real nature is; show him how to overcome
all limitations; give him courage; show him the way. If he will not
believe, if he will not walk in the way, it is not our fault, and have
done all we can, we must go our way. We may sympathize with people
but never with trouble, limitation or misery. If people still insist on
hugging their troubles to themselves, all the charity in the world will
not help them.
Remember that God is that
silent
power behind all things, always ready to spring into expression when we
have provided the proper channels, which are receptive and positive
faith in the evidence of things not seen with the physical eye but
eternal in the heavens.
All is mind, and we
must
provide
a receptive avenue as it passes out through us into the outer
expression of our affairs. If we allow the world's opinion to
control our thinking, then that will be our demonstration. If, on the
other hand, we rise superior to the world, we shall do a new thing.
Remember that all people
are
making
demonstrations, only most of them are making the ones thy can make with
their present powers of perception.
HOW TO ATTAIN STRENGTH
LET us see that we use the right attitude of mind in all
that we do, filling ourselves with such courage and power of strength
that all thoughts of weakness flees before us. If any thoughts of
weakness should come, ask this question: Is life weak? If life is not
weak and if God is not discouraged, then you are not, never were, and
never will be. I should like to see the sickly, discouraged thought
that could withstand this attitude of mind.
No! Life is strong and
you are
strong with the strength of the Infinite; forget all else as you revel
in this strength. You are strong and can say I AM. You have been
laboring under an illusion; now you are not disillusioned. Now you
know, and knowing is using the law in a constructive way. "I and the
Father are One;" this is strength for the weak, and life for all who
believe.
We can so fill ourselves
with
the
drawing power of attraction that it will become irresistible. Nothing
can hinder things from coming to the man who knows that he is dealing
with the same power that creates all from itself, moves all within
itself, and yet holds all things in their places. I am one with the
Infinite Mind. Let this ring through you many times each day until you
rise to that height, looking, sees.
In order to be sure that we are creating the right kind of
mental
atmosphere and so attracting what we want, we must at first watch our
thinking, lest we create that which we should not like to see manifest.
In other words, we must think only what we wish to experience.
All is mind, and mind casts back at the thinker that only which he
thinks. Nothing ever happens by chance. Law governs all life, and all
people come under that law. But that law, so far, as we are concerned,
we ourselves set in motion, and we do this through the power of our
thought.
Each person is living in
a
world of
his own making, and he should speak only such words and think only such
thoughts as he wishes to see manifested in his life. We must not hear,
think, speak, read or listen to limitations of any kind. There is no
way under heaven whereby we can think two kinds of thought and get only
one result; it is impossible, and the sooner we realize it the sooner
we shall arrive. This does not mean that we must be afraid to think
lest we create the wrong image, but it does mean that the way most
people think can produce nothing but failure; that is why so few
succeed.
The person who is to
succeed
will
never let his mind dwell on past mistakes. He will forgive the past in
his life and in the lives of other people. If he makes a mistake he
will at once forgive it. He will know that so long as he desires any
good, there is nowhere in the universe anything that opposes him. God
does not damn anyone or anything; man damns everyone and everything.
God does not make things
by
comparing His power with some other power. God knows when He speaks it
is done; and if we partake of the divine nature we must know the same
thing in our lives that God knows in His.
"I am the master of my
fate,
"I am the captain of my soul."
WHAT WE WILL ATTRACT
WE will always attract to us, in our lives and
conditions, according to our thought. Things are but outer
manifestations of inner mental concepts. Thought is not only power; it
is also the form of all things. The conditions that we attract will
correspond exactly to our mental pictures. It is quite necessary, then,
that the successful business man should keep his mind on thoughts of
happiness, which should produce cheerfulness instead of depression; he
should radiate joy, and should be filled with faith, hope and
expectancy. These cheerful, hopeful attitudes of mind are indispensable
to the one who really wants to do things in life.
Put every negative
thought out
of
your mind once and for all. Declare your freedom. Know no matter what
others may say, think or do, you are a success, now, and
nothing can hinder you from accomplishing your good.
All the power of the
universe
with
with you; feel it, know it, and then act as though it were true. This
mental attitude alone will draw people and things to you.
Begin to blot out, one by
one,
all
false beliefs, all ideas that man is limited or poor or miserable. Use
that wonderful power of will that God has given you. Refuse to think
failure or to doubt your own power.
See only what you wish to
experience, and look at nothing else. No matter how many times the old
thought returns, destroy it by knowing that it has no power over you;
look it squarely in the face and tell it to go; it does not belong to
you, and you must know -- and stick to it -- that you are now free.
Rise up in all the faith
of
one who
knows what he is dealing with, and declare that you are one with
Infinite Mind. Know you cannot get away from this Mind; that wherever
you may go, there, right beside you, waiting to be used, is all the
power there is in the universe. When you realize this you will know
that in union with this, the only power, you are more than
all else, you are more than anything that can ever happen to
you.
MORE ABOUT THE POWER OF
ATTRACTION
ALWAYS
remember that Spirit makes things out of itself; it manifests in the
visible world by becoming the thing that it wills to become. In the
world of the individual the same process takes place. It is given to
man to use creative power, but with the using of this power comes the
necessity of using it as it is made to be used. If God makes things out
of His thought before they come into manifestation, then we must use
the same method.
You can attract only that
which you
first mentally become and feel yourself to be in reality, without any
doubting. A steady stream of consciousness going out into creative mind
will attract a steady manifestation of conditions; a fluctuating stream
of consciousness will attract the corresponding manifestation or
condition in your life. We must be consistent in our attitude of mind,
never wavering. James says, "Ask in faith, nothing doubting, for he
that doubteth is like a surge of the sea driven by the wind and tossed.
For let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord."
We are all immersed in an
aura
of
our thinking. This aura is the direct result of all that we have ever
said, thought or done; it decides what is to take place in our life; it
attracts what is like itself and repels what is unlike itself. We are
drawn towards those things that we mentally embody. Most of the inner
processes of thought have been unconscious; but when we understand the
law all that we have to do is to embody consciously what we wish, and
think of that only, and then we shall be drawn silently toward it.
We have this law in our
hands
to do
with as we will. We can draw what we want only as we let go of the old
order and take up the new; and this we must do to the exclusion of all
else. This is no weak man's job but an undertaking for the strong, self
reliant soul; and the end is worth the effort. The person who can hold
his thought one-pointed is the one who will obtain the best results.
But this does not imply
the
necessity of strain or anything of a strenuous nature; on the contrary,
strain is just what we must avoid. When we know that there is but one
power we shall not struggle, we shall know, and in calmness we shall
see only what we know must be the Truth. This means a persistent, firm
determination to think what we want to think, regardless of all outer
evidence to the contrary. We look not to the seen but the unseen. The
King of Israel understood this when, looking upon the advancing host of
the enemy, he said, "We have no might against this great company, but
our eyes are upon Thee"-- upon the One Power.
HOW TO ATTRACT FRIENDS
THE man who has learned to love all people, no matter who
they may be, will find plenty of people who will return that love to
him. This not mere sentiment, and it is more than a religious attitude
of mind; it is a deep scientific fact, and one to which we should pay
attention. The reason is this: As all is mind, and as we attract to us
what we first become, until we learn to love we are not sending out
love vibrations, and not until we send out love vibrations can we
receive love in return.
One of the first things
to do
is to
learn to love everybody. If you have not done this, begin to do so at
once. There is always more good than bad in people, and seeing the good
tends to bring it forth. Love is the greatest healing and drawing power
on earth. It is the very reason for our being, and that explains why it
is that people should have something or somebody to love.
The life that has not
loved
has not
lived; it is still dead. Love is the sole impulse for creation; and the
man who does not have the greatest incentive in his life has never
developed the real creative instinct. No one can swing into the
Universal without love, for the whole universe is based upon it.
When we find that we are without friends, the thing to do is
at once
send our thought out to the whole world -- send it full of love and
affection. Know that this thought will meet the desires of some other
person who is wanting the same thing, and in some way the two will be
drawn together. Get over thinking that people are queer. That kind of
thought will only produce misunder-standing and cause us to lose the
friends that we now have. Think of the whole world as your friend; but
you must also be the friend of the whole world. In this way and with
this simple practice you will draw to you so many friends that the time
will be too short to enjoy them all. Refuse to see the negative side of
anyone. Refuse to let yourself misunderstand or be misunder-stood. Do
not be morbid. Know that everyone wants you to have the best; affirm
this wherever you go and then you will find things just as you wish
them to be.
The atmosphere created by
a
real
lover of the race is so powerful that although his other short-comings
may be many, still the world will love him in return. "To him who
loveth much, much will be forgiven." People are dying for real human
interest, for someone to tell them that they are all right. Which
person do we like the better: the one who is always full of trouble and
faultfinding, or the one who looks at the world as his friend and loves
it? The question does not need to be asked; we know that we want the
company of the person who loves and loving, forgets all else.
The only reason we think
that
other
people are "queer" is because they do not happen to think as we do. We
must get over this little, petty attitude and see things in the large.
The person who sees what
he
wants to
see, regardless of what appears, will some day experience in the outer
what he has so faithfully seen within.
From selfish motives
alone, if
from
no loftier reason, we cannot afford to find fault or to hate or even to
hold in mind anything against any living soul. The God who is
love cannot hear the
prayer of
the
man who is not love. Love and co-operation will yet be found to be the
greatest business principle on earth. "God is Love."
We will make our unity
with
all
people, with all life. We will affirm God in us is unified with God in
all. This One is now drawing into our life all love and fellowship. I
am one with all people, with all things, with all life. As I listen in
the silence the voice of all humanity speaks to me and answers the love
that I hold out to it.
This great love that I
now
feel for
the world is the love of God, and it is felt by all and returned from
all. Nothing comes in between because there is nothing but love to in
between. I understand all people and that understanding is reflected
back to me from all people. I help, therefore I am helped. I uplift,
therefore I am uplifted. Nothing can mar this perfect picture of myself
and my relations with the world; it is truth. I am now surrounded by
all love, all friendship, all companionship, all health, all happiness,
all success. I am one with life. I wait in silence while the Great
Spirit bears this message to the whole world.
THE CONTROL OF THOUGHT
THE man who can control
his
thought
can have and do what he wishes to have and to do; every-thing is his
for the asking. He must remember that whatever he gets is his to use
but not to hold. Creation is always flowing by and we have as much of
it as we can take and use; more would cause stagnation.
We are relieved of all
thought
of
clinging to anybody or anything. Cannot the Great Principle of Life
create for us faster than we can spend and use? The universe is
inexhaustible; it is limitless; it knows no bounds and has no confines.
We are not depending on a reed shaken by the wind, but on the principle
of life itself, for all that we want, have or ever shall have. It
is not some power, or a great power, we affirm
again; it is ALL POWER. All that we have to do is to believe this and
act as though it were so, never wavering, not even once, no matter what
happens. As we do this we shall find that things are steadily coming
our way, and that they are coming without that awful effort that
destroys the peace of the majority of the race. We know that there can
be no failure in the Divine Mind, and this Mind is the Power on we are
depending.
Now just because we are
depending
upon Divine Mind we must not think that we do no have to do our share.
God will work through us if we let Him, but we must act in the outer as
though we were sure of ourselves. Our part is to believe, and then act
in faith.
Jesus went to the tomb of
Lazarus
believing and knowing that God was working through Him. Often we have
to go somewhere or do something and we must know with deep conviction
that there will be a power going with us that none can gainsay. When we
feel this secure place in our thought, all that we have to do is to
act. There is no doubt that the creative power of the universe
will answer; it always does. And so we need not take the worry
upon ourselves, but rather we will "Make known our requests with
thanksgiving."
When Jesus said, "All
things
whatsoever ye pray and ask for, believe that ye receive them and ye
shall have them," he was uttering one of those many deep truths that
were so clear to Him and that we are just beginning to see. He knew
that everything is made out of mind. and that without that positive
acceptance on the part of the individual there is no mold into which
mind can pour itself forth into form. In the mind of God there is the
correct mold, the true knowing, but in the mind of man there is not
always true knowing. Since God can do for us only by doing through
us, nothing can be done for us unless we are positively receptive, but
when we realize the law and how it works, then we will provide that
complete inner acceptance. By so doing we permit the Spirit to do the
work, to make the gift.
The reason we can make
our
requests
known with thanksgiving is because we know from the beginning that we
are to receive and therefore we cannot help being thankful. This
grateful attitude to the Spirit puts us in very close touch with power
and adds much to the reality of the thing we are dealing with. Without
it we can do but little. So let us cultivate all the gratitude that we
can. In gratitude we will send our thoughts out into the world, and as
it comes back it will come laden with the fruits of the Spirit.
CREATING ATMOSPHERE
TO the student who has
realized that all is mind and
that everything is governed by law, there comes another thought: it is
that he can create, or have created for him from his own thinking. He
can create such a strong mental atmosphere of success that its power of
attraction will be irresistible. He can send his thought throughout the
world and have it bring back to him whatever he wants. He can so fill
his place of business with the power of success that it will draw from
far and near. Thought will always bring back to us what we send out.
First we must clear our thought of all unbelief. This book is written
for those who believe; and to those who do believe it will come true in
their lives.
Without mental clearness
on
the part
of the thinker there can be no real creative work done. As water will
reach its own level, so mind will return to us only what we first
believe. We are always getting what we believe but not always what we
want. Our thought has the power to reach, in the outer form of
conditions, an exact correspondence to our inner conditions.
By thinking, you set in motion a power that creates. It will
be exactly
as you think. You throw out into mind an idea, and mind creates it for
you and sets it on the path of your life. Think of it, then, as your
greatest friend. It is always with you wherever you may be. It never
deserts you. You are never alone. There is no doubt, no fear, no
wondering; you know. You are going to use the only power that
there is in the universe. You are going to use it for a definite
purpose. You have already fixed this purpose in your thought.; now you
are going to speak it forth.
You are speaking it for
your
own
good. You desire only the good and you know that only the good can come
to you. You have made your unity with life, and now life is going to
help you in your affairs.
You are going to
establish in
your
rooms such an atmosphere of success that it will become an irresistible
power; it will sweep everything before it as it realizes the greatness
and All-Mightiness of the One. You are so sure, that you will not even
look to see if it is going to happen; you KNOW.
And now the word, which
is one
with
the Infinite Life, is to be spoken in calm, perfect trust. It is to be
taken up, and at once it is to be operated on. Perfect is the pattern
and perfect will be the result. You see yourself surrounded by the
thing that you desire. Your word is now establishing it by perfect
life, by infinite activity, by all power, by all guidance. The power of
the Spirit is drawing to you all people; it is supplying you with all
good; it is filling you will all life, truth and love.
Wait in perfect silence
while
the
inner power takes it up. And then know that it is done unto you. There
goes forth from this word the power of the Infinite. "The words which I
speak, they are spirit and they are life."
